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Alcatraz occupation
Thought it was up for AfD, but no sign of it. Seems like WP is deleting old AfDs? The Occupation of Alcatraz was an protest occupation of Alcatraz Island by the group Indians of All Tribes (IAT). The Alcatraz Occupation lasted for nineteen months, from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, and was forcibly ended by the U.S. government. Background According to the IAT, the Wikipedia:Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) between the U.S. and the Sioux, all retired, abandoned or out-of-use federal land was returned to the Native people from whom it was acquired. Since Alcatraz penitentiary had been closed on March 21, 1963, and the island had been declared surplus federal property in 1964, a number of Wikipedia:Red Power activists felt the island qualified for a reclamation. On March 8, 1964, a small group of Sioux demonstrated by occupying the island for four hours.Warrior, Robert and Smith, Paul Chaat. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New Press, 1996. p. 10 The entire party consisted of about 40 people, including photographers, reporters and Elliot Leighton, the lawyer representing those claiming land stakes. According to Wikipedia:Adam Fortunate Eagle, this demonstration was an extension of already prevalent Bay Area street theater used to raise awareness. The Sioux activists were led by Richard McKenzie, Mark Martinez, Garfield Spotted Elk, Virgil Standing-Elk, Walter Means, and Allen Cottier. Cottier acted as spokesman for the demonstration, stating that it was “peaceful and in accordance with Sioux treaty rights.” The protesters were publicly offering the federal government the same amount for the land that the government had initially offered them; at 47 cents per acre, this amounted to $9.40 for the entire rocky island, or $5.64 for the twelve usable acres. Cottier also stated that the federal government would be allowed to maintain use of the Coast Guard lighthouse located on the island.Fortunate Eagle, Adam. Alcatraz! Alcatraz! The Indian Occupation of 1969-1971. Heyday Books, 1992. In 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle planned a symbolic occupation for November 9. University student leaders Mohawk Richard Oakes and Shoshone Bannock LaNada Means, head of the Native American Student Organization at the University of California, Berkeley,Donna Hightower Langston, “American Indian Women’s Activism in the 1960s and 1970s,” Hypatia 18, 2: 2003, 120. with a larger group of student activists joined Fortunate Eagle and changed the course of events. After Wikipedia:Adam Fortunate Eagle convinced the owner of the Monte Cristo, a three-masted yacht, to pass by the island when their own boats did not arrive, Oakes, Jim Vaughn (Wikipedia:Cherokee), Joe Bill (Wikipedia:Eskimo), Ross Harden (Wikipedia:Ho-Chunk) and Jerry Hatch jumped overboard, swam to shore, and claimed the island by right of discovery.Landings 1964 and 1969, Alcatraz is not an island, PBS The Coast Guard quickly removed the men, but later that day, a larger group made their way to the island again, and fourteen stayed overnight. The following day, Oakes delivered a proclamation, written by Fortunate Eagle, to the Wikipedia:General Services Administration (GSA) which claimed the island by right of discovery, after which the group left the island. Though recently many people have claimed that the Wikipedia:American Indian Movement was somehow involved in the Takeover, AIM had nothing to do with the planning and execution of the Occupation, though they did send a delegation to Alcatraz in the early months in order to find out how the operation was accomplished and how things were progressing. Occupation thumb|Graffiti from the occupation, featuring a [[Wikipedia:Navajo language|Navajo greeting, "Yata Hey"]] In the early morning hours of November 20, 1969, 79 American Indians, including students, married couples and six children, set out to occupy Alcatraz Island. A partially successful Coast Guard blockade prevented most of them from landing, but fourteen protesters landed on the island to begin their occupation.Occupation 1969, Alcatraz is not an island, PBS At the height of the occupation there were 400 people. Native and non-native people brought food and other necessary items to the people on the island. The occupation lasted about 19 months but ended peacefully. Occupation 1969, Alcatraz is not an island, PBS The protesters, predominately students, drew inspiration and tactics from contemporary civil rights demonstrations, some of which they had themselves organized. The original fourteen students who occupied the Island were LaNada Means War Jack, Richard Oakes, Joe Bill, David Leach, John Whitefox, Ross Harden, Jim Vaughn, Linda Arayando, Vernell Blindman, Kay Many Horse, John Virgil, John Martell, Fred Shelton, and Rick Evening. Jerry Hatch and Al Miller, both present at the initial landing but unable to leave the boat in the confusion after the Coast Guard showed up, quickly turned up in a private boat. The first landing party was joined later by many others in the following days, including Joe Morris (a key player later as a representative of the Longshoreman's Union, which threatened to close both ports if the Occupiers were removed), and the man who would soon become 'the Voice of Alcatraz,' John Trudell. After a fire destroyed a San Francisco Indian center and Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel offered to turn Alcatraz into a national park, the protesters mobilized.Johnson, Troy R. “Roots of Contemporary Native American Activism,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 20(2):127–154.Kotlowski, Dean J. “Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, and Beyond: The Nixon and Ford Administrations Respond to Native American Protest,” Pacific Historical Review, 72(2):201–227. Although she would not receive the same recognition from mainstream media as Trudell and Oakes would, LaNada Means, who was one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave, organized written statements and speeches that outlined the purpose of the occupation. To the media and to the federal government, Means made it clear that the occupiers wanted complete Indian control over the island, under the Treaty of Fort Laramie, for the purpose of building a cultural center that included Native American Studies, an American Indian spiritual center, an ecology center, and an American Indian Museum. According to Means’ grant proposal, the center would include full-time Indian consultants, Indian teachers, Indian librarians, and an Indian staff leading people around the center in order to tell the story of Indians of All Tribes.Paul Chaar Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, ( New York: The New Press, 1996), 76. The occupiers specifically cited their treatment under the Wikipedia:Indian termination policy and they accused the U.S. government of breaking numerous Indian treaties. Richard Oakes sent a message to the Wikipedia:San Francisco Department of the Interior: :"We invite the United States to acknowledge the justice of our claim. The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government - to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit's land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian. We do not fear your threat to charge us with crimes on our land. We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace." President Wikipedia:Richard Nixon's Special Counsel Wikipedia:Leonard Garment took over negotiations from the GSA. On Wikipedia:Thanksgiving Day, hundreds of supporters made their way to Alcatraz to celebrate the Occupation. In December, one of the occupiers, Isani Sioux Wikipedia:John Trudell, began making daily radio broadcasts from the island, and in January 1970, occupiers began publishing a newsletter. Joseph Morris, a Wikipedia:Blackfoot member of the local Wikipedia:longshoreman's union, rented space on Pier 40 to facilitate the transportation of supplies and people to the island. Cleo Waterman (Seneca Nation) was president of the American Indian Center during the takeover. As an elder, she chose to stay behind and work on logistics to support the occupiers. She worked closely with Grace Thorpe and the singer Kay Starr to bring attention to the occupation and its purpose. Wikipedia:Grace Thorpe, daughter of Wikipedia:Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox), was one of the occupiers and helped convince celebrities like Wikipedia:Jane Fonda, Wikipedia:Anthony Quinn, Wikipedia:Marlon Brando, Wikipedia:Jonathan Winters, Wikipedia:Buffy Sainte-Marie and Wikipedia:Dick Gregory, to visit the island and show their support. Not only did Thrope bring both national and international attention to the occupation, she also provided supplies necessary to keep the occupation alive. Thrope gave a generator, water barge and an ambulance service to the island.Donna Hightower Langston, “American Indian Women’s Activism in the 1960s and 1970s,” Hypatia 18, 2: 2003, 120. Rock band Wikipedia:Creedence Clearwater Revival supported the Occupation with a $15,000 donation that was used to buy a boat, named the ''Clearwater, for reliable transport to Alcatraz. As a child, the actor Wikipedia:Benjamin Bratt was in the occupation with his mother and his siblings.Benjamin Bratt -Native Networks Collapse and removal On January 3, 1970, Yvonne Oakes, 13-year-old daughter of Annie and stepdaughter to Richard, fell to her death, prompting the Oakes family to leave the island, saying they just didn't have the heart for it anymore. Some of the original occupiers left to return to school, and some of the new occupiers had drug addictions. Some non-aboriginal members of San Francisco's drug and hippie scene also moved to the island, until non-Indians were prohibited from staying overnight. After Oakes left, LaNada Means, John Trudell and Stella Leach were challenged with rebuilding the occupations’ worsening reputation. Means, having been in a family that was always active in tribal politics, was comfortable briefing reporters on how reservations operated or directing occupiers on island clean up.Paul Chaar Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, ( New York: The New Press, 1996), 72. So when Bob Robertson, a Republican working for the National Council on Indian Opportunity, arrived on the island in 1970, just a week after Yvonne Oakes’ passing, Means took the lead in trying to negotiate the grant for the cultural center. Along with Means, Robertson originally met with a group of occupiers to discuss safety and negotiations regarding the occupation. He was surprised that only ten men were present while forty American Indian women were present and active in discussion.Paul Chaar Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, ( New York: The New Press, 1996), 73. When the initial meeting ended, Means had invited Roberson to a private dinner between herself and three lawyers to propose a $500,000 grant to renovate the island.Paul Chaar Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, ( New York: The New Press, 1996), 74. Roberson, however, refused and would continue to refuse the occupiers’ proposals until finally, in May of 1970 the federal government began to transfer Alcatraz to the Department of the Interior and the National Park System. LaNada Means attempted to find different routes to support Indians of All Tribes and those still on Alcatraz. Means believed that if she could hire a high profile attorney to represent their claim for the Treaty of Fort Laramie, IAT would win their case. However, as she traveled further and further away from the island to find supporters, rumors began that she was offered a screen test with a movie producer, therefore becoming an opportunist. When she returned she had found that Trudell and the occupation’s attorney’s disagreed with her approach. Ultimately, the remaining occupiers followed Trudell.LaNada Boyer, “Reflections of Alcatraz,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 18 (1994): 87. By late May, the government had cut off all electrical power and all telephone service to the island. In June, a fire of disputed origin destroyed numerous buildings on the island. Left without power, fresh water, and in the face of diminishing public support and sympathy, the number of occupiers began to dwindle. On June 11, 1971, a large force of government officers removed the remaining 15 people from the island. Though fraught with controversy and forcibly ended, the Occupation is hailed by many as a success for having attained international attention for the situation of native peoples in the United States, and for sparking more than 200 instances of civil disobedience among Native Americans. Impact The Occupation of Alcatraz had a direct effect on federal Indian policy and, with its visible results, established a precedent for Indian activism. Robert Robertson, director of the National Council on Indian Opportunity (NCIO), was sent to negotiate with the protesters. His offer to build a park on the island for Indian use was rejected, as the IAT were determined to possess the entire island, and hoped to build a cultural center there. While the Nixon administration did not accede to the demands of the protesters, it was aware of the delicate nature of the situation, and so could not forcibly remove them. Spurred in part by Wikipedia:Spiro Agnew’s support for Native American rights, federal policy began to progress away from termination and toward Indian autonomy. In Nixon’s July 8, 1970, Indian message, he decried termination, proclaiming, “self-determination among Indian people can and must be encouraged without the threat of eventual termination.” While this was a step toward substantial reform, the administration was hindered by its bureaucratic mentality, unable to change its methodical approach of dealing with Indian rights. Nixon’s attitude toward Indian affairs soured with the November 2, 1972, occupation of the Wikipedia:Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Nixon reputedly felt betrayed, and claimed that “he was through doing things to help Indians.” Much of the Indian rights activism of the period can be traced to the Occupation of Alcatraz. The Wikipedia:Trail of Broken Treaties, the BIA occupation, the Wikipedia:Wounded Knee incident, and the Longest Walk all have their roots in the occupation. The American Indian Movement noted from their visit to the occupation that the demonstration garnered national attention, while those involved faced no punitive action. When AIM members seized the Mayflower II on Thanksgiving, 1970, the Occupation of Alcatraz was noted as “the symbol of a newly awakened desire among Indians for unity and authority in a white world.” Although the Alcatraz inspired many other Pan-Indian movements to occur, it also showed how gender played a part in Indian activism. Mainstream media had an obsession with documenting the stereotype of the male Indian warrior and as such it was the men that were highlighted as being the leaders and creators of movements.Donna Hightower Langston, “American Indian Women’s Activism in the 1960s and 1970s,” Hypatia 18, 2: 2003, 128. Women such as LaNada Means, Stella Leach and the other women at Alcatraz receive little attention for contributing to the movement. As a result, the many women who had initiated movements such as Wounded Knee Incident would never be as well-known as Russell Means and other AIM leaders, even though, in the case of Wounded Knee, of the 350 occupiers, just 100 were men. Donna Hightower Langston, “American Indian Women’s Activism in the 1960s and 1970s,” Hypatia 18, 2: 2003, 127. Even within the Occupation of Alcatraz, it became increasingly difficult for women like LaNada Means to keep an audience when John Trudell used white attorneys to strengthen his case against hers. Paul Chaar Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, ( New York: The New Press, 1996), 107. In other groups as well, women were honored more for having children and beading than being leaders like Means was trying to be. Quoted in John William Sayer’s Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials, John Trudell admitted, in reflection, “We got lost in our manhood."John William Sayer, Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 224. Legacies Some 50 of the Alcatraz occupiers traveled to the East Bay and began an occupation of an abandoned and dilapidated Wikipedia:Nike Missile installation located in the hills behind the community of Kensington in June 1971. This occupation was ended after three days by a combined force of Richmond Police and regular US Army troops from the Wikipedia:Presidio of San Francisco.Berkeley Gazette, June 15–18, 1971 Moreover, the Alcatraz Occupation greatly influenced the American government's decision to end its Wikipedia:Indian termination policy and to pass the Wikipedia:Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. The Alcatraz Occupation led to an annual celebration of the rights of indigenous people, Wikipedia:Unthanksgiving day, welcoming all visitors to a dawn ceremony under permits by the National Park Service. Further reading * Wikipedia:1969: The Year Everything Changed, Wikipedia:Rob Kirkpatrick. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-60239-366-0. * Wikipedia:Alcatraz Is Not an Island, "Indians of All Tribes" (Peter Blue Cloud). Berkeley: Wingbow Press/Bookpeople, 1972 * Taking Back the Rock,(link down) Native Peoples Magazine * Johnson, Troy R. The occupation of Alcatraz Island: Indian self-determination and the rise of Indian activism. University of Illinois Press, 1996, 273 pp. ISBN 0-252-06585-9 Wikipedia:Template:Alcatraz Island External links *Doris Purdy film of the occupation *Alcatraz Is Not an Island at PBS *The Alcatraz Proclamation to the Great White Father and his People *[http://www.nps.gov/alca/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm Alcatraz National Park, We Hold the Rock] – NPS (author:Troy Johnson) References Category:Native American history of California Category:Alcatraz Island Category:1969 in the United States Category:Indigenous rights protests Category:History of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area